Iowa's presidential party caucus results last night gave a boost to Barack Obama, a dedicated supporter of animal protection at the state and federal levels, and Mike Huckabee, the worst of the candidates on animal issues.

Riding a huge margin of victory among young voters, Obama has established himself as the new frontrunner in the Democratic race for president. He bested John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both of whom also have strong animal protection records.  One thing seems assured: the Democratic nominee is going to be a supporter of the humane treatment of animals.

The Republican race was not as close, with Huckabee surging past the entire field and winning Iowa in a bit of a rout.  For animal advocates, it’s bad news indeed, since Huckabee has an unmistakably clear record of hostility to animal protection.

Huckabee attempted to intervene and block an investigation into the facts surrounding his son allegedly torturing and killing a stray dog at a Boy Scout camp.  As governor of Arkansas, he failed to toughen the state’s lax animal cruelty laws and he exhibited unyielding fealty to the sport hunting lobby and the agribusiness industry. 

TMZ reported yesterday that Huckabee’s favorite dish is horse meat—even though 70 percent of Americans oppose killing horses for their meat.  Conservative icon Ronald Reagan rode a horse—he never ate one.  Huckabee is the greatest threat to animal protection we’ve seen in the race to the White House in recent times.